The Internet has developed into a convenient medium by which consumers can purchase goods and services. The ability to purchase goods over the Internet is sometimes provided by software applications known as a "shopping baskets". A shopping basket application, which commonly executes on a World Wide Web site of a product manufacturer or retailer, generally provides a virtual store in which a customer can view descriptions of and purchase various products electronically. A shopping basket application generally allows a customer to add products to or delete products from a virtual shopping basket and specify various attributes, such as quantity, size, color, etc. The customer's selections are generally stored in a database associated with the Web site. When the customer is ready to purchase the contents of the shopping basket, he may click on a hypertext link labeled "Purchase Shopping Basket", for example, which causes the customer to be prompted to enter billing information (i.e., name, address, and credit card number) and to confirm the transaction.
Unfortunately, while the Internet makes electronic commerce convenient, it also provides a medium for perpetrating fraud and other illegal or unethical activities in connection with electronic commerce. In particular, the anonymity of the Internet provides a relatively safe medium for the sellers of gray market goods. It is also not uncommon for the unscrupulous to sell brand name goods through Web sites that are not authorized to sell such goods. A manufacturer may provide a list of authorized dealers (i.e., retailers, or product fulfillers) to the public, by which a customer can theoretically verify that a dealer is authorized to sell a given brand. However, it is inconvenient for the consumer to have to obtain this information, and many manufacturers do not provide such information. Further, because Web sites can be set up with relative ease, an unauthorized site can be set up which is virtually indistinguishable from that of an authorized dealer. Hence, consumers who purchase products on-line take the risk that the products may be counterfeit or may not be backed by a warranty. Manufacturers, on the other hand, have little or no ability to detect or prevent unauthorized on-line sales of their products and other unauthorized on-line use of their brand names.
Hence, it is desirable to provide a technique by which consumers visiting a dealer Web site have greater assurance that the Web site is that of an authorized dealer. In addition, it is desirable to provide a technique by which manufacturers have greater control over the on-line sales of their products, whereby manufacturers can set standards for their dealers and conveniently inform consumers whether a Web site belongs to a dealer which meets those standards.
Manufacturers who wish to promote on-line sales of their products must decide whether or not to handle such sales themselves. For various reasons, it may be undesirable for a manufacturer to make direct sales over the Internet. Direct sales by the manufacturer may be precluded by distribution agreements, or the manufacturer simply may not be equipped to process and fulfill product orders. As an alternative to direct sales, therefore, a manufacturer may wish to refer potential customers to an authorized dealer by providing a link on its own Web site to a Web site of the authorized dealer One problem with this approach, from a manufacturer's point of view, is that a dealer's Web site generally also displays and allows customers to purchase products of competing brands. In addition, the manufacturer often is not informed immediately of a sale by the dealer, making it difficult for the manufacturer to maintain current records.
Therefore, in addition to the above-mentioned capabilities, it is desirable to provide a technique by which a manufacturer can refer a potential on-line customer to an authorized dealer for on-line sales, without exposing the customer to competing product information.